Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Law School graduates who choose careers in public service will soon be able to take advantage of a more generous loan forgiveness program, the Law School announced Wednesday.

Under the new Virginia Loan Forgiveness Program (VLFP II), graduates who take public service jobs that pay less than $75,000 per year will be eligible for loan assistance. The new program will cover the entire annual loan payments for graduates who make $55,000 or less.

This up from the previous level of $35,000 (the amount at which all loan payments are covered). Sound to good to be true? Well, if you're a 1L, 2L, a 3L, or an alum, some of it is:

The new program only applies to the class of 2013 onward; earlier classes will still be under the old program ("VLFP I"):

For the Classes of 2013 and later, the Law School’s revised loan forgiveness program (VLFP II) helps repay the loans of graduates who earn less than $75,000 annually in public service positions. Participants in the program who earn less than $55,000 annually receive benefits covering 100 percent of their qualifying law school loans. Those earning between $55,000 and $75,000 receive benefits prorated based on income. For the Classes of 2012 and earlier, the Law School maintains its original loan forgiveness program (VLFP I). [Emphasis in original]

Earlier we speculated on how the re-tooled Virginia Loan Forgiveness Program would dovetail with the new Federal Income Based Repayment rules. Speculate no more!:

The new program also requires that participants place their loans in the federal Income Based Repayment Plan (IBR), which factors in annual income, educational debt and family size to determine a graduate’s monthly loan repayment obligation.

“The IBR plan structures graduates’ loan payments around their income,” said Director of Financial Aid Jennifer Hulvey. “For graduates who are making less, their payments will be less.”

The new UVA program thus dovetails nicely with the federal one. Overall, we applaud the enhancement of the program, though we wish it applied retroactively, particularly to the 2Ls and 3Ls, many of whom were among the hardest hit by the recession / clawback in legal hiring.

I think its BS that they're not including 1L/2L's. All of us 1L's were told last year during admitted students day talks by financial aid that they were "revamping" the LRAP program. But, rather than revamp it for us; we get stuck with the old one . . . its like a bait and switch routine.

The reason this plan doesn't include current students is likely because the school knows it would lose money off of us. We're the ones most likely to get low-paying work in this economy, and they don't want to open themselves up to that kind of liability. Yet, they still want to attract the best PI-focused students to boost our ranking, so they can't sit by and let us get trampled by schools like NYU and Stanford who had real LRAP programs. So what's the best solution (for the school)? Announce the new LRAP program just before deposits are due, encourage better students to choose UVa, and make a relatively safe bet that they're going to find high-paying work by the time they graduate.

We should probably consider ourselves lucky we even have a chance to opt into the plan, even though I'm sure the eligibility requirements are extremely high (such as only having federal loans so that the government pays most of them anyone through IBR anyway, and UVa only has to pick up the remainder).

I think this school genuinely cares about its students and wants us to succeed--just not at its own expense.

The school only cares about itself. If it cared at all about its current students, that is the people currently paying their salaries, they would not have implemented a program specifically designed to attract new students while doing absolutely nothing for current students - i.e. the ones who got most screwed by the economy's sudden collapse.

I'm puzzled by why students feel that it is the law school's job to bail them out. Everyone already here (myself included) accepted his/her offer to enroll knowing exactly what the financial rules of the game were. We all chose to pay the rates, we now don't get to whine about the fact that those rates aren't changing to benefit us. (As for 1Ls who feel misled by the law school, that is unfortunate if the law school did in fact lead you to believe that a) LRAP was getting revamped and b) the revamped program would apply to your class. That said, you also had more information than the rest of us about the legal hiring climate you were entering. So your eyes should have been wide open about the state of things, and if you were relying on the revamped LRAP program helping you, you frankly should have gotten very clear guidance from the school about whether the program would definitively apply to you.)

More importantly, it is not the law school's fault that the legal economy tanked. Further, it's not like the law school is swimming in money - the endowment took a massive hit.

Do you know who needs to bail you out? You do. That's the deal in a capitalist society: you take risk; if it pans out, you keep the reward; if it doesn't, you suffer the consequences. If you don't like it, move to France. You are simply not entitled to have the law school/government bail you out of a hole of your own making.

The article neglected to mention that NGSL members -- past, present and future -- automatically qualify for their own special LRAP plan funded by the "league dues" paid by those same suckers who we routinely crush weekly each spring and fall.

You: white, around 5'9" 5"10, ripped hot bod, dark hair, you were wearing a white stripped towel. We glanced at each other while changing. I couldn't talk to you because there were other guys there. You left in Nantucket red shorts, a tucked in Vineyard Vines button-down, and flip flops.

Me: white, 5'9", gl, wearing blue towel. im sure you remember me.

I think you were super hot and interesting. Email me if you want to workout together sometime or grab some lunch.

Sounds like 5:09's just a little bitter he's gonna be repaying his own student loans by working 90 hours a week for the next 30 years.

Sorry brah, some of us were ALPHA enough to be proactive and TAKE from BETAS like 5:09 the cash we're gonna need to be able to repay our student loans while still having time to hit the gym 5x a week and swing by the bars to pick up the ladies on the weekends and Wednesdays and Thursdays.

While I don't expect UVA to bail me out, I did expect to get some level of guidance and career advice as a student and an alumni. Anyone that's pre-Donovan knows what I'm talking about. I honestly thought that going to a top school I'd at least have the benefit of quality career advice. Instead, they put DH in charge of the alumni and as anyone whose been to see him can tell you, he's beyond worthless.

Its pretty shitty that you make the assumption that the only people who want an LRAP are people who can't get jobs . . . it might amaze you, but not all of us want lots of money, rather, we just want to be able to pay off our loans.

FYI: I'm sure UVA would be happy to extend this program to 2012/2011 grads. They mentioned people will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and I can't see why you wouldn't be approved, because UVA IS MAKING MONEY OFF OF THIS CHANGE.

You see, you need to be in the new IBR (government run income based repayment plan) to get the benefits. The IBR knocks your loan payments down substantially. For instance, you might pay $500/month on a $55k salary with $200k in loans. That is what UVA will cover.

Under the old system, if you make $35k, you still have a full loan payment ($1800/month?) and THAT is what UVA would pay. So unless you plan on spending 10 years in public service/govt. and getting your loans forgiven under IBR, this program might be worse for you. It could be better, but it isn't necessarily better, and UVA is definitely saving a lot of money doing it this way.

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